WEBVTT - Ep. 199: THIS COUNTRY LIFE - Mississippi River Expedition 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.240 Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.680 from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.040 I want you to stay a while as I share 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.479 my stories and the country skills that will help you 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.360 beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.880 part of Meat Eater's podcast network, bringing you the best 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:29.960 outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends, 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.080 pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:40.000 think I got a thing or two. The Teacher Mississippi 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:45.839 River expedition back in January, me and Clayton Newcombe, you know, 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:50.600 the mule Man, extraordinary and questionable Meat Eater Turkey calling 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:55.680 contest winner, that guy, Well, we purposely acquired a boat 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:59.400 and enough possible to zip down the mighty Mississippi on 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:03.400 a two one hundred and fifty mile trek to hunt fish. 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:05.800 I'm going to tell you some stuff on how that 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:09.160 all got started, But first I'm going to tell you 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:19.240 a story. Since a boat was a major fixture on 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:23.920 our most recently aired adventure, here's a story about one 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:27.679 I've owned several over the years, and while at present 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:31.360 I can temporarily be counted among the boatless boats and 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:35.880 I have a storied partnership. Lots of my misadventures that 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:40.360 I've detailed on here have involved boats, everything from nearly 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.000 buying the farm on the Arkansas River during a severe 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:46.759 thunderstorm to sitting in the heat of summer on Lake 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:52.640 Chico eating sardines for breakfast, or unintentionally mooning an elderly 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.640 couple as my brother and I swam like Tarzan Minus's 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:59.760 loincloth at Bug Island on the Saline River. But a 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.160 boat boat was and remains important to me. I like them. 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:05.680 I like to use them doing the things I like 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:09.080 to do, whether it's catching fish or gigging frogs, or 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:14.120 chasing animals to feed me and my family. Some folks 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:18.639 say that boat boat stands for bust out another thousand, 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:23.160 referencing the cost of upkeep on a boat. Now, I 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:25.560 have found that the more you use one, the cheaper 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:29.120 it is to operate, especially the smaller boats that I've 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:33.160 had my experience with. That may be true with party 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:36.680 barges and big skier bass boats, but my minimalist approach 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:40.519 to the boats that I've owned have always been pretty simplistic. 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:44.880 I want to be safe, stay dry, and not paddle 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:49.200 where I'm going I don't ever recall turning a boat over, 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:53.720 dangerously swamping one, or having a wreck of any significance, 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:57.440 by which I mean at all. I've never been one 0:02:57.440 --> 0:02:59.560 who wanted to go faster than what I consider to 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:03.080 be safe, even in the ignorance of my youth or 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:07.000 last week. My dad taught me at an early age. 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:09.840 We were brim fishing on the lake and he said, son, 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:13.280 you have got to be careful out here. There's more 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:15.520 water on the outside of this boat than you can 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:19.600 safely drink to save yourself should you fall in it. Well, 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.960 I never forgot that I love the water. I ain't 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:27.359 scared of it, but I respect it. And there were 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:30.600 times when you could question that last statement, and here's 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:35.600 one of them. Opening the day of the last split 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:38.360 of duck season, right after Christmas in the early nineties, 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:41.080 an acquaintance of mine wanted to go hunting with me 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:45.560 and Tim. Tim's my older brother and my duck hunting partner, 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:49.720 and we took him to Cane Creek Lake near Star City, Arkansas. 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:53.600 He was a large lad, not obese, just a big human. 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.520 If y'all been keeping scoring through the podcast, that's the 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.520 spot where I nearly got driven into the green like 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:04.760 one of John Henry's railroad spikes into a crosstie when 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:08.160 a big snag broke off that I was standing beside 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:12.080 and almost fell on me. It's also the place that 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:15.040 I killed my first duck, long before it was a 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:18.880 public lake. If you hadn't heard those stories, skip back 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:22.400 to episode one seventy one of This Country Life Ducks, 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:25.400 Trees and Danger, and catch up with the rest of 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:29.680 the class. Anyway, we were early to the boat ramp 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:33.760 that morning and it was cold. Anything that had water 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.680 on it or in it was frozen, including the fuel 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:39.960 line going from the gas tank to the nine to 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:44.440 nine horsepower motor that belonged to our acquaintance. Now, I 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:48.120 don't recall the circumstances of why we were using his boat. 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:51.400 Obviously Tim and I neither one of them had seen 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:54.159 it before, or we'd have been using one of ores. 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:59.520 It was twelve feet long and thirty six inches wide. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.719 I wonder how they figured the passenger capacity on a boat. Well, 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.680 wonder no more. You multiply the length of the boat 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:12.960 times the width and divide it by fifteen. The answer 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:17.280 is the number of people your boat is rated for now, 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:20.960 here's something that seems important to add. The person that 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:24.159 equation is referring to is a human being that weighs 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:28.040 one hundred and fifty pounds. So doing a little more 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:31.240 math and channleeng my most favorite math teacher of all 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:35.640 time as Brenda McDougall. If we could multiply three times twelve, 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:39.480 we get thirty six. You divide thirty six by fifteen, 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.919 you get two point four. So that meant our boat 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:45.880 was rated for two point four humans that weighed one 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:51.200 hundred and fifty pounds. Two point four humans. That's a ratio, opie, 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:54.640 and we're taking in fishing. If you're younger than forty, 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:57.080 you ain't getting that joke. But watch season one, episode 0:05:57.120 --> 0:05:59.520 d Eat of The Andy Griffith Show and you will. 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:04.760 Moving on, our boat was rated for three hundred and 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:07.919 sixty pounds, and that's not counting the gear we was told, 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:12.359 just the items that don't float without assistance and breathe. There. 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:17.440 We were all above that one hundred and fifty pound average, 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:21.159 way above it. And we had a giant bag of 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:28.920 decoys other items plus shotguns and shells. Sketchy, but we 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.680 were there to go duck hunting and duck hunting, we 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:35.080 would go, except the motor wouldn't start with water in 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:38.200 the fuel line. We removed the fuel line and melted 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.600 the ice from the inside. Now, don't ask me how 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:42.960 I did that, because only having y'all think of me 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:46.400 as a complete idiot is good enough without me confirming 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:50.280 it for you. Let's just say that Tim used to smoke, 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:54.719 and did so when this story took place. Thankfully, he 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:56.839 quit a long time ago. And if we were faced 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:01.000 with that same situation now as we were, then I'd 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:03.240 be unable to borrow the item from him that I 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:06.240 used to thaw off that fuel line. Now, if you 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:11.000 think that was dumb, get a load of this. With 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:14.920 the fuel line thawed, empty of water, reconnected and prime 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:18.360 with fuel, we fired that little nine nine Johnson up 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:20.680 and it was purred like a kitten. When Tim and 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.440 I stood on opposite sides of that boat, as our 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:27.320 captain sat at the helm. We had a huge bag 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:31.680 of decoys, three shotguns, ammo boxes full of shells, a 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:35.000 grub box full of snacks, and enough coffee to wash 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:38.520 a car with between us. Left little room for a 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:42.640 matching set of exercise. Professional duck killers like me and Tim, 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:46.840 so we climbed in at the same time, with each 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:50.080 of our inboard legs and two thirds of what was 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.520 attached to them inside the boat. As we lay flat 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:57.280 along the gunwales of the boat, our outboard knees were 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:00.320 hanging overboard and skimming the surface of the water. That 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:04.200 boat struggled to stay afloat. Now we had less than 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:06.520 three quarters of a mile ago from the boat ramp 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:09.040 to the spot we had picked out, and in one 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:11.720 of our boats, it would have taken about three minutes 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:14.640 to get there from the time we unloaded until we 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:18.400 were chucking out decoys at the spot. But the brain 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:21.240 trust of what would become the dynamic duo of duck 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:25.440 guides that formed Southern Waterfowler's Guide Service were laying on 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:27.400 the edge of a boat that was rated for one 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:30.280 and a half of the people that were currently occupying it. 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.800 I just read that sentence out loud, and while visualizing 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:37.520 that memory, I automatically heard the tune Dumb Ways to 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:41.960 Die playing in the background. It could have been the 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:45.559 theme song on so many of our exploits, but as 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:50.160 fate would have it, we all lived. I remember going 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:53.199 to the hole that morning before daylight, half hanging out 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:56.840 of that boat with my inboard hands squeezing the sugar 0:08:57.200 --> 0:08:59.320 out of the straps in that decoy bag that I 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:01.880 was going to use. Is my life jacket should the 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:04.520 boat decide to give in too physics and try to 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:07.560 kill us. And I felt guilty about it after we 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:10.680 got there. It was selfish of me to think that 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:12.839 I was going to be holding a decoy back should 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:16.400 be turned over. What about my brother? I wasn't even 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.640 concerned about the other guy. Well, I mean I was, 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.280 but not near as much as my brother. We killed 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:26.920 some ducks a limit, as I recall, and haphazardly made 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:29.720 our way back to the boat ramp the same way 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.400 we went out there. Tim and I both laid on 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:34.680 the edge of the boat on opposite sides that was 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:37.559 cutting through the cold water at the break next speeed 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:40.840 of whatever a nine to nine Johnson could manage, pushing 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:44.840 seven hundred pounds of dumbness across the lake with barely 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:49.520 four inches of freeboard sticking above the water line. Now, 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:51.800 when we coasted to the boat ramp, Tim and I 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:54.559 both rolled out of that little boat, once again, planting 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:57.880 our feet on the safety of the concrete no longer 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:01.840 at the mercy of aluminum unsteadiness, the bowzover that was driving, 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:04.520 or the two more ons that went along for the ride. 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:07.480 The boat captain walked up the bank to get his 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:09.520 truck and trailer while Tim and I stood at the 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:13.680 water's edge holding the boat to keep it from floating away. 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:16.880 I looked at my brother and I said, Tim, were 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:18.880 you scared when we were coming out and you could 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:21.439 see how close the water was to the top of 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:25.880 the boat. He said, I didn't like it, but I 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:29.040 really was not scared. I got to be honest with you, Brent. 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:33.199 I didn't know what you had planned, but I had 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:35.200 a hold of that decoy bag on the way out 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:38.199 there this morning and on the way back, and I 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:40.880 knew if that boat went down, I was taking it 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:56.040 with me. And that's just how that happened. In the 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:58.440 late spring of twenty twenty three, I got a call 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:01.559 from Clay that went something like that is camera man, 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:04.839 Brent reeves what you're doing. After all these years, I 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:08.520 still how I'm listed in his contacts. Anyway, For those 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:11.040 of us who get those calls from Clay, we know 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:14.960 that the reaction to and how you respond is very important. 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.040 There's no telling where this conversation comes from or where 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:21.280 it'll end up, so you got to measure your response 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:26.160 before you inadvertently commit to some ridiculous project he's dreamed up, 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.200 probably after waking up in the barn lot after one 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.280 of his musics kicked him into sleepy town. But I 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.160 could tell we were going somewhere. I just didn't know 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:39.840 where or how soon, And I usually respond with something 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:43.960 akin to where we're going. Whatever my response was, he 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:46.840 followed it up with I want me and you to 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:50.480 put a boat in the Mississippi River at Memphis and 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:54.240 hunt and fish our way down to Vicksburg probably takes 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:56.640 seven to nine days, depending on what we get into. 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.679 I immediately flashed through a lit lifetime of navigating up 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:04.480 and down the Arkansas River and all the perils me 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:07.160 and my brother encountered with just me and him, and 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:10.440 also the scores of people that we guided for and 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:15.240 transported in boats in good and terrible weather, and awaghed 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:18.760 those near death experiences against all the times that we 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:23.520 got off the river alive with all our charges. Pretty 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:26.679 sure i'd remembered it if we'd lost anyone or each other. 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.720 And since none immediately sprang to mind. I responded with 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.920 why stop at Vicksburg. The cough is better in New Orleans. 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:38.040 He said, yeah, Man, I like it, And from that 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:41.760 conversation the plan was in action. It would also be 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:45.680 the easiest part of the whole expedition. Shortly after that 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:48.680 initial conversation, I was surfing the web and ran across 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:51.400 the cliff of President Kennedy giving one of the most 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:55.720 motivational speeches about the space program when he said, we 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:59.320 choose to go to the moon. We choose to go 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:01.480 to the Moon in this decade and do the other 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:05.520 things not because they are easy, but because they're hard, 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:09.160 because that goal was served to organize and measure the 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:12.760 best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:15.959 one that we are willing to accept, one we are 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:19.520 unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win. 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:24.680 And others too. Now watching that after Clay in my conversation, 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:27.959 what I heard him say was when he said we 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:31.400 was Britain, Clay, and when he said Moon, it was 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:35.960 Mississippi River, plain as day. I was all in. But 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:39.880 Arkansas ain't the big money. The differences in them was 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:42.800 like the difference between the small saline river that I 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:45.160 grew up on that I could swim from one side 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:48.080 to the other and back right now, compared to the 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:52.239 bigger Arkansas River. I respected them all, but the Mississippi 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:54.839 would have a whole new set of challenges compared to 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:58.760 the Arkansas. Most notably would be the amount of barge traffic, 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:01.880 a that into the mix that the river was at 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:06.920 an historically low level, significantly narrowed the river to mostly 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:11.240 operating within the channel markers every boat out there, including 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:13.920 the barges. That meant we would all be in close 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:17.960 proximity of each other, and they traveled constantly up and 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:21.320 down the river, and we wouldn't be able to skirt 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.520 to the outside edges of the channel, giving them and 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:27.120 us a whole lot more room to operate. It wasn't 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:30.640 going to happen, not on this trip. Now. People do 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:32.720 it every day, but most of those folks are more 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:35.520 experienced than I am, even with over a quarter of 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:37.880 a century of running up and down the Arkansas, which 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:40.920 has an average flow rate of one hundred and fifty 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:44.600 thousand gallons a second. As far as I know, the 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:46.640 boat we would wind up with would be one of 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:50.000 the largest boats Clay's ever been on, and one hundred 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:53.160 percent the biggest one he would ever drive. And we 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:56.240 were going to do it on the Mississippi River, a 0:14:56.360 --> 0:15:01.400 river that averages almost one point six million gallons per second, 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:06.160 more than ten times that of the Arkansas. We were 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:08.560 going to need a bigger boat, and they left it 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:12.800 up to me to find one. Other than deciding I 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:15.720 wanted to do this adventure, picking a boat was the 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:19.000 easiest thing I did. It's got to be a Sea 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:21.960 ARC boat. Clay's like, you know everybody down there, and 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:24.760 I said, no, but they're in Southeast Arkansas. I used 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:26.960 to have an office in Model Cellar, where they are located. 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.960 I'm from Southeast Arkansas. These are my people, and I 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:35.160 will know someone there soon enough. Clay just fired off 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:38.120 a generic email to the customer service desk at Sea Arc. 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:41.520 In short order, we had a meeting scheduled and done, 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.200 and I would eventually drive to the boat plant to 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:46.400 see the boat being built for us to use on 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:50.680 the trip. I can't say enough good things about Steve Henderson, 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:53.200 the president of Sea Arc. He more or less said, 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:55.280 just tell us what you want and we'll do it. 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:58.600 He then introduced us to Jesse Carr Wright and John 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:01.600 ed Row, both of them i'd worked closely with over 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:04.000 the next few months designing a boat for what we 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:07.720 need on this grand adventure that we were planning. Now, 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.360 my contributions to the boat design was limited to asking 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:14.720 questions and deferring to the experts of John ed and Jesse. 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.960 But I'd been stewing on an idea for a color, 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:21.240 and I finally asked John ed hey, man, what's the 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:26.120 chances of getting this thing wrapped in first? Like cash camel? Now, 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:28.400 let me tell you this. Don't ask them folks to 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:31.000 do something that you don't mean, because they're going to 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:33.600 find a way to get it done. And they did. 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:37.240 They invited me to come down and visit the plant 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:39.520 and see our boat in the very beginning stage. Is 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:42.240 when it was just a big flat piece of aluminum 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:45.480 that to me looked like a big flat piece of aluminum. 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.520 That's what I saw. But those folks, and they saw 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.800 a whole lot more. What I was smart enough to 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:56.000 see was a group of people working in Southeast Arkansas 0:16:56.080 --> 0:17:00.360 in August fabricating metal in an environment that's knocking induce 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:03.040 of the cool temperatures As a matter of fact, it 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:06.680 was hot in there, but the vibe that was cool. 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:10.600 They took me around to the different stages of boat building, 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:12.879 and I got to meet the people that Steve and 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:15.399 John ed and Jesse bragged on from the moment we 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:17.840 came to them with the idea of using the sea 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:21.480 arc boat. Those folks were working hard, and it was 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:24.199 special to me to see the obvious pride in the 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:27.280 craftsmanship that these men and women were putting into the 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:31.760 boats that they'd never set foot on. To me, I 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:34.919 made it just all the more special. I told some 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:36.840 of them that would slow down long enough to talk 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:39.200 to me about why I was there and what we 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:42.200 were planning to do with their boat man. In some 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:44.960 places there was noise in there, but they all smiled 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:47.280 and nodded and gave me a thumbs up or a 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:49.760 few words of encouragement. It was good, and I was 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:54.600 thankful for the opportunity to meet them, every one of them. 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:57.439 A big majority of them were from where I'm from, 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:00.960 and a lot of us had mutual friends before I 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:04.520 left that day. Our mutual friends list would get a 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:14.200 lot bigger. By now, most of you have probably seen 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:16.600 our film on the media or YouTube channel of our 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:20.680 Mississippi River expedition. If you hadn't, you better stop now 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:24.440 slide over there watch it last chance if you don't 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:26.440 want to know what happens, because I'm fixing to talk 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:31.520 about it. In five four three we killed one duck, 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:35.080 one hog, and three deer and had one heck of 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:38.119 a time. Now, there's not a lot of behind the 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.359 scenes stuff that we didn't talk about in the film, 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:43.639 But that boat, my gosh, that Sea Arc boat was 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:47.280 an absolute fortress. We were in some pretty nasty cold 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:49.639 rain on the last leg of our trail, but Clay, 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:53.000 our cinematographer is Isaac Neil, and drew stick line, me 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:56.240 and all our gear we stayed safe and dry. Once 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:59.320 we hit the bank between Greenville and Vicksburg, Mississippi, the 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.680 hunt was on. Our cat fishing plans got canceled when 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:05.440 the windy weather got so bad that it was unsafe 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:08.879 to be on the water. Luckily that happened after we 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:11.959 made it to Thad Miller's hunting camp where we were staying. 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:15.760 Our friends Jordan Blissed and Lake Pickle, a couple of 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:18.720 Mississippi boys that know how to gather groceries from the 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:22.720 woods pointed us in the right direction, and we concentrated 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:25.679 on chasing deer. Once we saw that the ducks just 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:28.840 hadn't made it down in enough numbers to be predictable 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:31.840 on where they were going to be hanging out. Deer 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:36.680 hunt every day all day. Okay, I'm in, And we did, 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:39.119 and we fought the wind. My goodness, we hunted in 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:41.720 wind that had I been at home, I would have 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:43.920 rolled over and went back to sleep. And it picked 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:48.200 up nearly every day. The day I shot that Mississippi buck, 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:52.080 the wind was blowing sustained above twenty miles per hour 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:56.120 and gusting up to forty bow hunting was really out 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:58.720 of the question where I was, but we didn't want 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:02.200 to leave because we were consistently seeing deer, good deer. 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:05.679 Now that's a lesson for me. When the rut is on, 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:08.480 all the rules go out the window on what deer 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:14.560 gonna do in reference to weather except be unpredictable. Drew 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:17.720 Stecklon and I was hanging in tree saddles about twenty 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:19.840 feet off the ground, and the wind was whooping on 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:23.520 us like we were rented mules. He saw the buck first, 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:25.560 and I thought I'd had to pass on him because 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:28.119 I could never get my rifles settled in on the 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:32.720 right spot. Then I said, for a miracle, everything came 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:36.280 together for one split second and was like that rifle 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:41.800 fired itself. Bingo riding the baller room. I'd have lost 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:44.040 money on betting whether we were going to see any 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:46.520 deer that day, and in reality, we didn't see many. 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:50.600 We also didn't sit long because before nine am that morning, 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:52.919 Drew and I were bailing out of that tree to 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:56.639 go hunt up a blood trail. It was an incredible 0:20:56.640 --> 0:21:00.400 adventure from start to finish. We left men Us at 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:04.360 the beginning, headed down the river, slept under the stars 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:08.399 on an island. We persevered through bad weather and wet 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:11.360 and cold conditions and stuck it out. Because a lot 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:13.919 of folks had gone to a lot of trouble to 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:17.879 help us see this crazy idea become a reality. We 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:20.560 owed it to every one of them and to ourselves 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:24.680 to see it through. We rolled out of Mississippi after 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:27.520 a week with some new friends and an ice chest 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:31.040 full of tasty critters. I'm going back to this spring 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:33.400 to try and put the old razzle dazzle on dealth 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:36.200 the long beard, and I'll keep you updated on how 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:39.720 that goes. If you hadn't watched the film yet, get 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:42.600 yourself over there and check it out. I think you'll 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:45.359 enjoy it. I know we had a great time working 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:49.280 on it. They're still tickets available at the Meat Eater 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:52.440 Live Tour. I know they need to come down south. 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:55.119 Y'all just keep holding their feet to the fire and 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:58.119 we'll see if we can make it happen. I like 0:21:58.240 --> 0:22:02.320 our chances. In the meantime, I know we have lots 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:04.720 of friends out west, and that's where the tour is 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:07.320 headed in a few weeks. You can find all the 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:10.760 information on when and where at the meeteater dot com 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:14.919 slash events. Thank y'all so much for listening and for 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:17.800 those who voted early and often for yours truly in 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:21.480 the calling contest during Meat Eater's Turkey week Man. That 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:24.800 was a lot of fun. Until next week. This is 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:28.040 Brent Reeves signing off. Y'all be careful.